Kling on to me
by Awatere11
Summary: So something crashes on the mountain and the Hub's resident climber goes to retireve it for his captain. Of course, if they knew it had a very volatile alien inside Jack might have prefered to nuke it and call it a day. Mostly climbing, falling, sweating and near death ... just another day in the life of the coffee king. ALT VERSE just a 5 chap exercise ... love ya crumbly ccc
1. Chapter 1

So it was nearly half my life ago when I last tightened the ankle straps on my boots and looked for a foothold but I do remember the thrill of standing there looking out over the tree canopy knowing I had achieved height. I was a fully acreditted tourist guide, loved it. Still enjoy going out and finding a spot to listen to the birds and feel alone in the cosmos. And take photos ... lots of those.

Ianto likes hiking, in my mind he was a first class hiker and climber with a desire to enjoy the world he protected. This is based on that, if I get anything wrong I am sorry but as I said …. It's been 20 odd years and a lot of kilos ago… and believe me some of those years were pretty odd LOL

Also Alt Verse so my version of this mountain might not be like the real one. As I have never been there I am merely making this shit up as I go along as per usual.

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1

"JACK?" Toshiko's voice has that hint of urgency to it that makes him perk up as he races from the office to look down over the Hub floor.

"We had something come through the rift … debris of some kind" she calls out and watches him shift from foot to foot as he assesses then nods for her to continue.

"Carnedd Llewelyn" she says and Jack blanches then looks around.

"IANTO!"

"Carnedd Llewelyn lies in the middle of the main north-east to south-west ridge of the Carneddau, between Carnedd Dafydd to the south-west and Foel Grach to the north. A short subsidiary ridge links it to Yr Elen to the north-west. Its position means that any route to this summit involves a long walk." Ianto replies as he walks into view, coffee cups in his hand as he looks up and Jack sees his interest.

"Awwwwww shit" Owen huffs from his desk, "Sounds sweaty."

"How do we ascend?" Jack asks as he leans forward ignoring Owen, Ianto the one who is the expert here.

"It can be climbed from Gerlan, above Bethesda, taking the path following Afon Llafar then continuing to the summit of Yr Elen before following the short ridge to Carnedd Llewelyn. Another path starts from Helyg on the A5, taking the track to the reservoir then following the slopes above Craig yr Ysfa to the summit. An alternative is to reach it by following the main ridge, either from Pen yr Ole Wen or from Foel-fras." Ianto suggests.

"Listen to you" Gwen snorts as she swings in her chair "sounding like a bloody tourist guide."

Ianto blinks as he turns to face her, "Gwen have you forgotten our cover up there? A Tourist office? I have to talk the talk and walk the walk."

"Plus Ianto is into mountains" Jack says as he joins them and Ianto glances over in time to see Owen sneer.

"I will have you know Doctor Harper, I am a more than average climber thank you" Ianto decides it will be a non-event and moves toward the kitchen as Jack looks at Owen, then to Ianto.

"You still have your gear?"

Ianto turns "Went rappelling last weekend, still in me car."

"Right then" Jack claps his hands, "Owen, you liaise with Tosh for the tech we might need, Ianto will be our gopher and I will drive and be all Captainy and…stuff."

Owen is soon engrossed in the earpieces Tosh is syncing as Ianto changes into climbing gear, Jack waiting to see the reaction of the others when Ianto reappears and he is not disappointed as Gwen's mouth falls open followed by Owen's.

Tosh has seen him in 'normal' clothes and doesn't not even blink as he stalks past in Lyrcia climbing trousers, a black t-shirt covered by a Lycria hoodie. He looks like he is an extra from a Tom Cruise movie and Owen finds himself struck dumb. Tea Boy is fit.

"Right, let's go"

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Ianto chose the back seat, something that annoys Jack more than he thought something like that should and he is forced to talk to Owen, argue with Owen and slap at Owen when he tries to change the music, Ianto in the back quiet and pensive.

Lisa.

Jack knows he is thinking of her, this mountain range one of their favourite haunts and Ianto has probably not ventured back since.

"I am sending the coordinates now" Tosh's voice says over the music, "It looks pretty high up, Ianto you will have quite a mission there."

Sniggering in the background tells him Tosh and Gwen are making fun of him for some reason and he shuffles down in his seat more. Jack glances in the back and notices, "Tosh, you and Gwen have something to say about our competitive climber? You know he is world class right?"

"Stop it" Ianto mutters.

"No, it's true. Ianto here s a national champ. Got medals and everything in his late teens, right? A fully qualified mountain guide too" Jack smiles and Owen snorts.

"More lies on his file eh?"

"No Owen, he left them off. I researched him and found him competing in the Himalayas for something when he was 21" Jack is really annoyed now.

"Really?" Owen turns to look back at Ianto, "I thought you were pulling my leg back in the Barrens. You really did?"

"Yes" Ianto nods.

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"Wow" Owen says meekly "High."

"Shit" Ianto agrees.

"Well … here we are" Jack looks up as he tries to measure the distance, "Ianto… I take it there is more than one way up?"

"The easy way and the quick way" Ianto replies as he looks at Owen, I would suggest you two go the easy way up the path and I will take the quick way up the rock face. If it's something that has broken open on impact we don't have time to think about it."

"Time difference?"

"I will get there late afternoon, you and Owen at dusk" Ianto considers "Maybe the difference of Two and a half? Three hours with him in tow?"

"DUSK!" Owen repeats with horror, "what? Hours? How many hours?"

"Owen, this is not an easy climb especially this time of year. Maybe we should consider the percentages here. Do we have anything else to go on?" Ianto looks to Owen, "Tosh?"

"I'm Owen silly" Owen says on a childish voice then sniggers at his own joke.

"Owen. Where are the coms" Ianto expands the question and Owen looks dumbly at him. "Let me guess. On your desk?"

"Ah….. oops?"

Jack face palms as Ianto pulls out his mobile and calls the Hub, Toshiko's Japanese making him cringe before assuring her he does not blame her.

"Right. We can't wait" Ianto informed them, "Tosh says there is movement of some sort in the layers, the powder….the snow, Owen. Whatever it is, we must assume it is not going to stay there if an avalanche sweeps it down into the valley. The satellite only got one grainy shot off but she is sure it looks like a ship. Seems intact."

"So you are going up the quick way" Jack steps forward, "Be careful."

"Be fast and catch me" Ianto replies with a crooked grin, "Don't lose the little one."

"OI!"

Ianto is soon harnessed up and hoisting rope onto his shoulder, "I'll take off and get up there. If it's a ship there may be survivors."

"And be careful" Jack repeats, "There may be survivors."

Ianto nods, touched as Jack shows concern.

"Don't worry about me" Ianto smiles as he pulls out his climbing jacket and Owen starts to laugh.

"What the hell … orange enough for ya?"

Ianto looks at him then mutters, "So they can find my body... it's an Avalanche Jacket Owen."

Owen's smile fades as he watches Ianto stalk off and he looks over at Jack, "He's kidding right?"

"No he's not." Jack looks openly worried now, "its avalanche time of year. He's being serious Owen. He's wearing that so I can see him, so I can find him if he falls or is swept away. If it happens I will leave you behind OK? You understand that right? He will have minutes if he has landed wrong. If he is buried I will need that bright colour to dig out and the little tracker in the collar to guide my VM."

"Wow" Owen mutters as they follow Ianto to the beginning of the track, "Can we sing combayah later too?"

It was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Some have asked if Jack and Ianto are in a relationship given the fact Ianto said he went climbing at the weekend and Jack clearly wasn't with him.

I would point out the small comment Jack made after telling Owen his VM was already synced to Ianto's Avalanche Location Beacon (So he already knows what the jacket is for as well as the beacon's frequency). "If it happens I will leave you behind." Let's just stop and realise they would probably all be in danger as well and Jack just calmly told Owen his one and only thought would be to save Ianto.

I like to think Ianto and Jack had a complex relationship and were a lot closer than they let the others think, Jack might have made out he didn't know if Ianto had been climbing at the weekend so Ianto could give him an out by making out he had been alone.

Who knows.

It just seemed to sound how they would bluster about with their secret trysts.

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Ianto is now in one of the worst positions possible for a free climb. He is moving up the underside of the overhang and is essentially hanging upside down, knifing his fingers into tiny cracks for support. It's excruciating ... both in terms of muscular effort, and the abrasions that come from forcing fingers into ice and rock again and again. Ianto keeps his hold with one hand and slides the other up, hammering it into a crack wedge with ice ... some of the ice chips whistle past and down ... finally, Ianto gropes one hand over the edge, and pulls himself onto the overhang.

Exhausted, Ianto pulls himself prone across the top.

It's getting dark rapidly ... Ianto has scaled a rock formation so he has a view of the rest of the valley ...Ianto slowly looks along the trees of the valley below, the canopy ... looks pretty ordinary to us, but something must have caught Ianto's eye, because he swings back to look at one tree. With broken branches on top.

He climbs down from his rock perch and rushes toward the tree.

He frantically rushes around, looking for the crash site ... he spots a crater of snow, rushes to it and starts digging. Even below the snow, the tracer's blinking red light is glowing and visible. Ianto laughs as he digs it out.

Something hard is underneath him ... Ianto recovers and brushes the snow off the metal casing that's underneath. It's battered from the fall, but is still barely holding together. Something has managed to force open the trashed locks ... he looks inside the vessel, and fans out his fingers for a small creature to clamber out onto.

"Jesus."

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Jack and Owen look up. They can see Ianto has made it ... but they can't see him, or the crash site anymore.

"Lower it down ... now!" Owen demands, already excited about what he might be able to dissect, after all he's gushed about it all the way here in the SUV.

Ianto has no intention of doing this ... he looks over at a ledge that moves off from it ... and at the ice and snow above.

They try to look up and locate Ianto. They can't. Until Ianto leans over shouting down "I've got a better idea. Why don't you come up and get it?"

With Ianto moves back against the wall, on the ledge that skirts off the overhand ... from Jack and Owen's point of view Ianto can hardly be seen ... since the mountain bulges out as it goes up. Ianto's got a slight edge of cover.

Owen looks at Jack, "He wouldn't leave."

Jack grimaces as he tries to work out what Ianto's doing and then he curses softly, "He's influenced. Something or someone was alive in there. He is creating space, warning us."

Owen looks up, worried ...

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Ianto moves across his thin ledge as Jack runs across his … Ianto ducks back and has to flatten even more against the wall, because his ledge is getting smaller … Owen yells Ianto's name again as Jack swings to motion him not to and above something finally gives way, dropping an avalanche on Ianto who hugs the wall … Only now can we see how much snow and ice had been penned up on the mountain top ... tons of ice and snow sweep down the mountainside

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Owen and Jack are safe at their vantage, but stunned at the sight of the snow... The SUV down at the base is swallowed in an explosion of white … then quiet. The avalanche ends as abruptly as it started. The rumble dies down to complete silence.

"You son of a bitch" Owen mutters as he kicked the side of the mountain and Jack pulls a face of disbelief.

Powdery snow is settling from the avalanche.

Owen takes a pair of overpriced binoculars and looks up "Do you think he's OK?"

"Let's catch up and find out." Jack huffs as they grab their packs, and hurry onto a trail that will lead them up onto the upper ledge where Ianto was hopefully waiting. Nothing is stirring. Until, there's some movement ten feet from where Ianto was hugging the wall.

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It's a crevice in the mountain, about two feet wide ... a climber would call this a "chimney" ... and it's packed with ice and snow. It's also packed with Ianto ... his hand gropes out ... and with some difficulty, he digs himself out, gasping and coughing. Ianto, coated with snow, leans against the wall and rests.

Alive.

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Jack checks his VM ... the blip is above, almost straight up. He motions to the wooded area ahead where a trail can be seen "The next one's a direct line to the top of the peak. This'll be long, but easy ... more like a hike than a climb."

Owen is suspicious as he sits on a rock and shakes snow from his boot "It looks like a winding route. Besides, what if he's not there?"

"There's another route. The East Face. But it's the wall on the other side, and it's smooth as glass. Maybe a dozen guys in the world could do it in good weather. Only a psycho would try it in a snowstorm." Jack replies calmly, "Besides. This is Ianto we are talking about, a seasoned climber. He will head straight up. Direct route, easiest. Even if something is controlling him he will move in this direction, second nature."

Owen digests this, and motions Jack to help him to his feet.

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Ianto is in pain. In spite of the cold and wind, he's drenched in sweat, half exertion, half fear. He is still stuck to a wall. A really big wall. A really, really big wall. A wall that's as wide as it is high ... five thousand feet by five thousand feet ... narrowing to a domed peak at the summit. Now picture the same wall, covered with ice. If this were horizontal, you or I couldn't walk on it without falling.

Now picture the same wall with an orange dot, two-thirds of the way up it. The orange dot is Ianto and he barely has the strength to hold on, much less go up.

Ianto holds himself steady with one hand, gets a foothold, and swings another hand up to SLAM it against the wall.

He's improvised gear ... he's tied a crampon to one hand. But it's as awkward as it sounds. Ianto moves up only a foot or so ... then pulls out the crampon, reaches up, and SLAMS it into the wall, starting the painful process over again.

Ianto is clearly exhausted and freezing ... his lips are blue, his eyebrows encrusted with snow. Wind still threatens to knock him off the wall ... but he forces himself on.

His teeth chattering as he talks softly to himself "A steam bath. (spikes himself up) A steam bath ... and a bottle of whiskey. (new foothold)A steam bath with a bottle of Glenfidich. And a fire. (new handhold)A steam bath ... with a bottle of Glenfidich ... and a steak. (new foothold)A steak soaked with Glenfidich, cooking over a steam bath on fire."

Ianto finally reaches the top of the wall, where it meets an enormous overhang of ice.

Ianto is right underneath where the ice flows over the wall. Ianto takes his handheld crampon and hammers it into the ice overhead with more force than usual. This one is going to have to hold.

Ianto steels himself for a tough move ... with one hand gripping that crampon, he swings out, away from the wall.

Only the crampon spikes jammed into the ice above his hand are keeping Ianto from falling. Ianto needs the second crampon to make the move up ... but that's not going to be easy to get.

It's attached to his boot.

As Ianto clings to the upper crampon, his body swaying, he reaches down with his free hand to loosen the other crampon.

The ground is one slip and five thousand feet away. Ianto fumbles desperately with the buckles on the crampons ... but both his fingers, and the buckles, are frozen stiff ... his face shows real, solid terror for the first time ... Ianto gets the first buckle off ... then the second. The crampon is off his boot.

Still swinging from one hand, he takes the now freed crampon and slams it into the ice. It doesn't hold ... but the force of Ianto's swing, pushing him away, has loosened the other crampon. Ianto only gets one more shot at this ... he swings the free crampon up with all his might ... it catches in the same split second as the other dislodges.

But the hard part is over ... with the two crampons, Ianto quickly manages to climb up over the lip of the overhang.

This is a field of ice sloping up to the top. Ianto pulls himself a few feet away from the edge, and puts the crampons back on his feet where they belong. It's now pretty simple for Ianto to run up the ice slope three hundred yards to the top which is a rocky, wooded area. Ianto seems to have a second wind now ... he runs to the other side of the summit. The other side is obviously the route the others will be taking ... beneath the summit is a winding, well beaten path.

Ianto finally arrives at a small shack where he struggles to get his hands to work, something definitely fighting him as he writes in the dust on the table.

STAY AWAY - PASSENGER

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For those of you who haven't guessed ... I have a weird habit of making my chapters about 800 words ... it's like an OCD thing I can't stop .. Walter is usually around 400. But this story is double the quota ... around 1600 or more per chap so those of you asking for double chaps ... these are. Also why this story will be only 5 chaps long instead of the 10 it would have been ... OK?


	3. Chapter 3

Jack is leading Owen upward ... this is a comparatively easy route, but still tiring. The sun goes down beyond a facing, taller mountain. Owen is huffing and puffing ... the altitude and exertion are getting to him. Jack allows himself a smile at his discomfort.

"Come on ... tourists take this trail." Jack says with fake bravado, "The shack is where we will find him, a fire going and an explanation.

"This way." Jack nods, Owen grimacing as he follows. "I think the shack is close by."

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Movement, Ianto turns to see if Jack had caught up, hoping he hasn't and is not prepared for the thing bursting from the foliage, his passenger is however and urges him to defend himself against its enemy.

The poor climber looks to be in his mid forties, fit and lean. He was dressed for the day and had been traversing close to the crash site, must have been the first on the scene.

Ianto feels the anger and fear from his passenger, whatever the other one is, they are clearly not friends. This was no accidental crash, they are fighting to the death.

Ianto feels sick to his stomach as the man screams like a wild animal and lunges, totally caught in the thing's clutches and no longer able to control himself. How long did it take? How long before Ianto is as controlled.

The man now runs at Ianto like a footy tackle and then screams as the ice gives way from beneath their feet and they are sliding down the mountainside ... Ianto, however, manages to flip over and to the side ... he lunges on top of the man and rides him down like a bobsled ... the end of the run is coming up too fast ...tries to maintain his perch on the man, who is screaming and not yet used to the idea of being a human sled ... he isn't remaining still enough to provide a smooth ride ... Ianto frantically reaches behind to the man's wrist to get the ice axe, trailing from a wrist strap, but the man's arm is thrashing away, threatening to toss off the axe ... they are accelerating, have almost reached the edge ...finally grabs the ice axe, pulling it off the man's wrist ... just as they reach the precipice edge, Ianto loops the axe to his wrist and swings toward the ice with everything he's got ...the axe's scythe-like blade catches on the ice, right at the lip of the precipice ... Ianto is wrenched to a painful halt, suspended over the drop, as what's left of the man, still screaming shoots over the edge ...Ianto unhooks the axe, and gets another handhold. Ianto uses the axe to climb further down the ice to some rock ... finding easier hand holds, he quickly disappears into the darkness.

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Jack and Owen hear the sound of screaming, looking over to watch the body fly into space and Owen cries out as he goes to run in that direction.

"Green, not orange. Green. It's not Ianto. Ianto is Orange" Jack says as he holds Owen back, "He's gone. Whoever that is, he's gone. Ianto is where it came from, I would bet money on it. Come on, keep heading up."

"What about the shack?"

"Move!"

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Ianto confidently drops down onto a large ledge that juts out from the wall ... obviously familiar territory for him. The ledge leads to a small, enclosed cave. Ianto takes out his penlight and shines it ... but the light looks dim. Batteries are low. Ianto pockets it, flicks his lighter and goes in ... in the flickering light, he can see that no one has been in here for a while ... snow, dust, rocks ... smiles with the memories of last time he was here with Lisa….Lisa ... then his face brightens with one memory in particular. Ianto rushes to a corner of the cave and opens a rock used as a lid to a hiding place.

"Please still be there ... oh, please ..."

Ianto reaches in the stash and finds an ancient half-full pint of Jack Daniels. The first thing to go right all day. Ianto uncaps it and gratefully gulps down a double shot. Peace, at last. Ianto smiles and leans against the wall, closing his eyes. A few moments before he feels that scuttling again.

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Ianto starts out towards the facing Tower ... his route, clearly, is going to be along the rock wall. It's relatively sheer, but there are shelves cut into it to make walking easy.

Jack races quietly through the woods in a parallel path with Ianto, as Owen circles around ahead of them, waiting.

Ianto makes eye contact with Jack, realizes what he's doing, and shakes his head as violently as he dares ... no, don't ... Jack gives Ianto a confident wink in response, then pounces in front of him, gun held high.

"End of the line!"

Ianto is startled, but doesn't immediately comply. This throws Jack off his stride.

"You heard me! Stop!"

Ianto smiles and steps closer to Jack then actually laughs. "End of the line? That's classic. You've got style. So, I'm going to give you a three count to figure out if you really want to shoot him."

Jack is thrown by the question, finally realizing it's not Ianto talking and as he frowns at him Owen drops his bags with annoyance to fumble for his own gun.

Ianto turns and runs.

"Wait" Jack says softly to Owen, halting him in his tracks, "We need to think, he needs to think. Come on … we follow until he has a plan."

"You think he will get one?"

Jack doesn't answer as they walk up the embankment following the tracks of the running Welshman.

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Ianto is sweating, straining in the dark, climbing up ... this'd be a good spot to pull back and take in the view, except ...there's nowhere to pull back to. There's about two inches of clearance between Ianto's chest and the rock, and about the same between his back and the rock. To the right, there is no light. At all. To the left, there's no light. Even above, there is no light, because the crack isn't straight ... nature isn't that obliging ... it zigzags up. Ianto is well within the mountain rock. Nothing could be closer to being buried alive Ianto snakes through a spot where the crack goes straight up ... he takes out his penlight and turns it on ... even this dim light reveals scores of bats hanging on the wall, surrounding him, up and down, left and right ... he is stuck somewhere between nausea and the realization that he's made a big mistake.

"I didn't need to see that. I really didn't."

Ianto cuts the light and slithers up through the dark.

Ianto soon has a quick climbing rhythm now. He pulls himself up with his hands, then braces his body with his back, and pulls himself up again ... he's not looking up, because he can't see anything yet anyway ... naturally, this leads to ... a head and rock collision. Ianto's head crashes against a new part of the crack, as the passage thins out. He gropes up. The passage is narrowing to the point that he can't get through it. Dead end.

"Should've taken that left turn at Oz" he says conversationally and it's like he is talking to himself but he is actually speaking to his Passenger, mocking it as he feels its frustration at not being able to break through all his internal firewalls.

Ianto backs down, and starts to slide across the side. With his back wedged against the rear wall, he uses his feet to push against the forward wall.

Zero visibility ... Ianto can't see what he's shoving toward. There has never been light of any kind in here. Ianto blindly pushes to the side, rattled by the difficulty of doing this in the dark.

"It's just like any other side move ...you can't see where the fuck you're going, that's all ..."

Ianto stops and fishes out his penlight. Turning it on, it's clear those batteries haven't gotten any more potent in the last few hours. Ianto shines it to the side.

Light is fading fast. A match's last gasp is brighter. Exasperated, he puts the penlight in his mouth and moves on.

Ianto inches on to the side. Looks up to see if the crack has gotten wider. It hasn't. Ianto mumbles something phonetically near "motherfucker" around the flashlight, aiming it up ... No opening larger than a mail slot ... still cursing, still looking up, still moving to the side ... he gets the opening he wants, but not where he wants it ... the crack suddenly, drastically widens as he moves to the side ... since he's been bracing his back against the wall, Ianto falls out of control, twisting around, face down ... Ianto bounces down the walls for several yards and catches himself by bracing his arms and legs against the crack. It's now five feet wide as he painfully brakes himself ... the flashlight falls out of Ianto's mouth and tumbles down, ping-ponging from one side of the crack to the other as it tumbles a long, long way down ... even after the light is gone, we can still hear the penlight's receding clattering against the walls ... he is now, literally, in a jam. There are no handholds, no ledges, and the walls are slick. All he can do is remain braced against the crack's walls until his already sore arms and legs give out.

"well .. fuck!"


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto is just as we left him. Face down, arms and legs pressing against the five foot gap of the tunnel walls.

Carefully, Ianto takes one hand off the wall, gets out his lighter with the other, and ignites it for a look ... Just as the crack has widened below him ... it's wider above him. More important, it slants at an easy enough angle to allow him to walk up. If only he can get up there.

Ianto snaps the lighter shut, pockets it, and readies himself.

Ianto steadily "walks" up the vertical passage by bracing himself with one leg and one arm ... then moving the other leg and arm up. He is like a bloody octopus slipping through small spaces and impossible bends but somehow he is managing it.

Ianto repeats this until he has his hands on the curved edge where the crack snakes into a sideways passage. But there are no handholds that will allow Ianto to get a grip and simply swing over and climb up.

Ianto is winded but manages to croak "So much for the easy part."

Ianto takes a deep breath, readies himself, and shoves himself away from the wall with his arms, pushes himself into a squat against the opposite wall, hanging for a second with no support at all, and he springs from that all into a passage.

Ianto lands hard but flat on the passage and immediately starts backsliding into the drop, but he digs in with his boots and his hands. Safe at last. Ianto carefully stands in a crouch ... and starts heading up.

Ianto moves up through the diagonal section ... the crack is starting to go directly upward. Ianto looks up ... It's coated with snow, but not too much ... Ianto can faintly make out light shining through up there.

He knows the top is twenty feet away. Ianto starts up the easy segment, his back braced against one wall.

Ianto, wedged near the top of the crack, is ready to dig through the snow ... but he hears the sound, muffled and distant, of Owen talking. Well … whingeing. Ianto strains to hear ... a bad time to come up?

Might be.

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"So what makes you think he will be able of come up with a plan … he could write it in his piss in the snow I guess" Owen is sniping, "If it's controlling him can't it hear what he is saying?"

"Shut up Owen" Jack's voice is devoid of emotion as he thinks the same thing.

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Ianto rappels down a rope back into the darkness. His only rope lost in the fall, this one found hanging there like it was mocking him and now he looks at it with wonder. A lifeline was never a truer title.

Ianto reaches up and tugs gently on the rope twice ... which is tied in a standard climber's slipknot and comes undone with a final tug ... the rope, freed of the piton, falls down, Ianto bending to retrieve it and he knows he has to find another way out of here, away from Jack.

The crack to the left narrows from five to three feet. Ianto edges down into it, and along a ledge moving to the side.

Ianto moves along the ledge trying to find a comparative point of comfort ... a toe sized ledge.

Exhausted, Ianto braces himself against the wall.

Ianto catches his breath. All this is taking its toll on him.

Ianto, exasperated, stops for a moment.

"What do you really want?" he asks, "I don't understand."

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GODDAMN IT!" Owen roars as he stops walking, limping to a rock to rub his calf muscle that is cramping, Jack turning with horror as a small avalanche to their right slides past, trees and rock slamming about.

"Good one Owen"

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Ianto hears a rumble and looks up with surprise.

The walls are pulverized near the top and cave in, raining rocks further down towards ... Ianto who is hit by a blast of air booming down through the confined space ... Ianto slips, but grabs for purchase ... sliding down the crack, out of control, until it narrows to a three foot width ... and they stop ... he braces against the wall and tries to protect his head with his arms as the rocks start to rain down ...

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"Shit" Owen says meekly as a whirl pool effect starts, clearly some underground cavern beneath them is being bombarded.

"If Ianto is in there…" Jack snarls, then sighs as he can only hope.

They trudge on.

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Rocks tumble down inside the crack, filling it in and sealing it off ... Ianto is braced, protecting his head from the first round of falling rocks, but rolling thunder in the crack announces that more is coming ... Ianto looks up as the noise gets closer ... The rockslide arrives ... the crack is filled in seconds with rocks and dirt, packing it in ... Ianto tries to hold on, but is shoved down by the falling rocks ... he is knocked down to a point where the crack narrows ... he stops himself by jamming his body against the sides. Suddenly, it's quiet. A little dirt whistles through, but that's all.

The cave-in has stopped, as it's filled in the crack above.

Ianto unsheathes his ice axe and starts hacking up to get at the exit. Dirt and rocks fall in his face as he digs ... Ianto frantically hacks at the ceiling of dirt ... rock and soil tumble down, is it too late? Ianto digs up as he fears the final collapse of the precarious ceiling. There is a push for him to get out, his passenger panicking now as it finally sees his dilemma.

Finally managing to squeeze out Ianto cautiously moves along a single ledge ... finally, some light can be seen, thirty feet ahead, as they round a corner.

The crack narrows, and Ianto straddles it, putting his feet on the opposite edge to walk faster. But before he can go on ... a hand grabs one of Ianto's ankles from below and yanks him down ... Ianto tumbles painfully, braking himself in front of The Man from earlier. He is bruised and bloody, but has somehow survived the earlier fall and made his way out. His look is not a forgiving one.

"Miss me? See ya found my rope" he snarls through broken teeth and Ianto sees with sickening clarity that he is more dead than alive, his passenger fighting with his last strength to kill Ianto's.

He smashes Ianto's face with a devastating, brass-knuckled style punch with his belt buckle in his fist... Ianto falls back, desperately grabbing at the walls to stop himself from going all the way down ... as he weakly tries to get up ... the man calmly opens his knife.

Ianto is on his feet, but The Man, slashing at him with his knife, is forcing Ianto to back up ... the crack is getting wider, and finding footholds while crab walking backwards in the dark isn't easy.

Ianto's in a rotten fighting position ... as he has to spread his feet out wider as he backs up, he's always lower than The Man.

Ianto throws a punch at The Man's stomach, but there's no power to it. The Man hits Ianto with a brutal knuckle-duster punch ...Ianto flies back several feet, somehow managing to straddle the crack walls ... which are now four feet apart. The Man moves in for the kill. Ianto's fingers scrabble over the rack behind him as his passenger screams with fear.

The Man moves in over Ianto and swings down with the knife ...But Ianto grabs his knife hand, and adding his own force to the swing, imbeds the knife to the hilt in the rock wall, trapping The Man's hand in the crack.

Ianto stabilizes himself on The Man's trapped arm and gets a little payback ... three solid roundhouse punches to The Man's face ... he then climbs up his pinned opponent, stepping up on The Man's stuck hand as if it were a piton.

The rumble of the approaching rockslide is unmistakable ...Ianto moves forward up out of the area into the higher level...and along the narrowed crack quickly, but under the circumstances, this "running" looks damn slow ... Ianto is now at the limit of his endurance, he does not know how much longer he can fight.

"I'm gonna die down here" he sighs sadly, Jack will never forgive himself.


	5. Chapter 5

The Man struggles with the stuck knife as the cave-in knocks him off the wall and buries him instantly ... Ianto clings desperately to the sheer wall ... the airburst has turned the crack into a wind tunnel ... it's as if the mountain were trying to blow him out.

The force of the airburst, as brief as it is strong, is over. Dust slowly swirls out ... Ianto raises his head. Ianto looks back ... the crack is now sealed off. Ianto takes a piton and hammer from his belt and knocks it in the side of the rock face. Makes it firm.

Ianto takes the binoculars out, and climbs out on a slim toehold so he can look up the wall.

Ianto whips the binoculars up to the top edge of the wall. It's blurry ... Ianto focuses the binoculars on ... Jack looking directly at him, his face one of bland annoyance as he hides his dismay and relief that Ianto is clearly signalling as he lets the first sunlight of the morning glint off the glass of the lenses.

Ianto scans methodically but rapidly down the rock below. All smooth. Until ... Ianto swings the binoculars back. There's a lip ninety feet below, leading into the wall. A cave.

He puts away the binoculars and swings back to let the length of rope drop. It's thirty feet long. Not even almost long enough to get to the shelter. Ianto leans against the crack wall, drained. Now what?

Ianto looks completely defeated. Can't go up. Can't go back in. Can't go down. But Ianto opens his eyes as the rope, brushes his cheek. The end is frayed.

Ianto's eyes light up. Inspiration. Ianto snatches the rope ... he pulls at the end and furiously starts unravelling it.

Ianto is still unravelling the rope fibre ... it's three different segments wound together.

Ianto rapidly ties the rope to the piton ... he works on the third connecting knot as he does the mental calculation of what he weighs. Ianto takes the line and lets it drop. Ninety feet of what looks like twine.

To make this even trickier, he has to swing over to the side about fifteen feet to get to the cave ... meaning he have to move down in pendulum type swings that put even more pressure on the rope which looks sorely tested at one knot ... it's coming undone ... he swings down lower ... twenty feet to the cave, four thousand to the ground ... he reaches the end of the rope ... six feet above the cave and fifteen feet away laterally.

He starts the swing over ... as he gets over the cave's lip ... the rope snaps ... Ianto fall, landing roughly on the cave's narrow lip ... Ianto starts to slip over, but the Passenger pulls him back with larger tentacles than seen before ... he dives into the small cave exhausted, he collapses on the cave floor still sending images to the Passenger of previous alien interactions with Jack becoming violent as he hopes that a loss of control will ensure it still wants to run.

Dust from the rockslide is drifting past the cave opening, but the worst is over. Ianto rolls over carefully. His ears are ringing ... Ianto lurches towards the cave opening, looking more like Quasimodo than a champion climber.

As he moves out of the cave, Ianto favours one foot.

Ianto is now moving on a ledge that's a little narrower than your coffee table. It's got irregular breaks, causing it to go up or down several feet ... and Ianto is jogging it, leaping across the ledge's gaps, leaning toward the wall ... and away from the four thousand foot drop.

Ianto's gotten his second wind ... he keeps jumping from ledge to ledge with the ease that comes from skill and familiarity, and with renewed purpose. Ianto makes the last jump to a section of ledge near the bottom of a ladder which consists of metal rungs woven into loose steel cable bolted into the rock, running two hundred feet to the top ... something left behind by a past expedition, now a tourist's toy. And the bottom rung is three feet above Ianto's outstretched arms.

Ianto pulls himself over and starts running ... Ianto heads down towards some rocks ... Jack steps out from behind them.

"Ianto?"

"Stay back Jack" Ianto whimpers as he looks for a way out. _Lisa, think of the way he put Lisa down, look how dangerous he is._

"Ianto?"

"Look, I don't have time to get you a coffee, go get a Starbucks like Gwen does" Ianto sneered, his hatred almost real and Jack blinks as he tries to understand what Ianto is trying to tell him.

"Gwen?"

"Yes, you know. Remember last time Gwen got the coffee? What I told her I was gonna do?"

Owen knows even as Jack still frowns with confusion and he steps out behind Ianto and aims, firing with a snarl of malice as he hopes Ianto is strong enough for this.

Ianto convulses in the snow as the volts of electricity surge through him and Jack cries out as he watches Owen deploy the stun gun again.

Again.

Again.

Finally the Passenger is in the snow next to Ianto's prone body and Jack removes the Webley to empty it into the fucking thing.

Ianto looks up at him silently.

"Christ Yan" Owen snorts, "I remember you threatening to taser her but it took me a sec to get the hint."

"Yeah?" Ianto's voice is raspy as Jack crouches to help him sit up looking over at the remains.

"A Klingon."

"What?"

"Not a fake one from the Space Trek thing you watch, a real one" Jack smiles as Owen's face changes.

"How dare you!" Ianto hisses, "as if this was not bad enough, now you mock Star Trek?"

"Come on" Jack is gentle now as he lifts Ianto to his feet and takes a moment to hold him while Owen is distracted, hands sliding to check he is OK, the fatigue making the body in his arms shake, "You did good soldier."

"What was it doing?" Owen pokes at it with a stick, a little boy with roadkill.

"Feeding off me, off my life source" Ianto shivers as he accepts the comfort and warmth, "Jack would have been an elixir of the gods to it. They grow with each life… imagine one with Jack's life-force?"

"Shit"

Jack holds Ianto tight and knows now that Ianto was trying to get to the summit to throw himself over the edge, kill both himself and the Passenger. To land where the body would be un-retrievable. The passenger trapped.

To save the world.

To save Jack.

"Well done" he repeats softly, hands rubbing as he feels Ianto start to shake so strongly he might fly apart if he lets him go.

"I wanna go home!" Owen demands and they all nod, Ianto pointing to a track, and they begin to weave towards it with Jack holding Ianto up.

They finally get to head home and Jack knows he will be having nightmares about this for some time.

Owen follows them watching Ianto's feet scuffle against Jack's and knows he will never again scoff at his weekends away mountain climbing.

Save the world.

Tick.

All survive.

Tick.

"I want a burger" Ianto suddenly blurts.

"For breakfast?" Jack laughs.

Owen grins as he nods his agreement.

Breakfast of kings.

Tick.

.

.

.

.

.

END


End file.
